I have several of these glass flower frogs that I picked up at garage sales and thrift stores. When they aren't doing bouquet duty at the bottom of a vase (they are meant to hold your flowers in place), I use them to hold pens and pencils on my desk. A lot prettier than the old coffee mug I used before.

Here is a cute idea I made for my children's teachers. This can be used as a vase for fresh cut flowers (or even an artificial bouquet) or even as a pencil/pen container.

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I found some straight sided glass jars as the thrift store for 15 cents each. I bought (2) 24 ct. packages of the 97 cent papermate wooden pencils at Wal-mart and hot glued them all around the jar. Then I attached a ribbon and bow (again with hot glue) and some miniature tree teacher/school ornaments (bought at Hobby Lobby during the 50% off sale) and voila! Pretty gifts for the teachers at around $5 each!

You could use a different ribbon and decorations and it would also be nice for co-workers in an office setting!

I take the cardboard boxes that hold the 4 sticks of butter and turn them into useful and pretty pencil and graft supply holders.

Total Time: 30 minutes

Supplies:

butter boxes, carefully opened flat

contact paper

thin tipped marking pen

paper clips

transparent tape

glue

scissors

Steps:

I lay a piece of contact paper, backing side up, and place an open butter box with the printed side down and trace all around, leaving a very small edge to cut on.

I cut out the contact paper, and making sure that the butter box is flat with printed side up to be covered; you can place small weights to keep it flat (a couple of spools of thread would work).

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Peel some of the backing paper down and carefully place the contact paper on top of the box, smooth it down so there are no wrinkles or air bubbles.

Next, refold the butter box back into shape with the white inside and the contact paper on the outside.

When refolding leave one end open by folding the ends down inside. You can add some glue if the sides do not fold down easily. Secure with paper clips.

Overlap the long sides neatly and glue or use transparent tape to secure the sides. If using glue hold in place on either end with paper clips. When the sides are secure, either the glue has dried or you used the tape method, fold over the bottom and either glue or tape into place. Stand upright.

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You can use any type contact paper or even gift wrapping, but with the wrapping paper you will have to glue all of it down securely. You can then add your supplies - pens, pencils, small scissors, paint brushes, etc. If you wish you could even secure the holders to your wall or cabinet with thumbtacks.

Felt pencil holders in the shape of a shoe and a boot. Print out the template as shown. Finished shoe is approximately 9 inches high. Using template A, cut one shoe out of cardboard for the backing and one out of felt.

If you get tired of pencil tips breaking and ink pen tips getting messed up in your pencil holder, try this: get a cheap cleaning sponge from the dollar store and cut it to fit in the bottom of your pencil holder

I find that putting a good dose of baking soda (anywhere from a tablespoon for small container to 1/2 cup or more for a larger container) into any container, filling it up with water, shaking (or stirring) ... and leaving it for a day or two (repeat shake-up or stirring every few hours) does wonders at removing any odor (even plastic bottles).